Brunello flap gets results

The investigation into Brunello di Montalcino production levels for at least four major vintners isn't finished. However, a Tuscan trade organization already is taking action to blunt criticism.

Count Francesco Marone Cinzano (right), owner of Brunello producer Col d'Orcia and president of the consortium of Brunello producers, told Decanter.com that producers now will test some 20-25% of wine each year after reports that hundreds of thousands of top Brunello were impounded and sale of the 2003 vintage suspended.

"We will be a lot more severe in our controls to guarantee and certify the good work of the majority,'' he told reporters for the wine magazine during a conversation at the Vinitaly trade fair in Verona, Italy.

Major producers including Castello Banfi, Antinori, Frescobaldi and Argiano were being investigated after it was alleged they had mixed small amounts of other grapes with the Brunello, a violation of commercial law.

You can read the full Decanter.com story here.

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